


Breathe With Me

by Flantastic



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Asthma, Christmas Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, SPECTRE Fix-It, Smut, Spoilers for SPECTRE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 16:45:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9080998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flantastic/pseuds/Flantastic
Summary: When James Bond goes back to MI6 following his disastrous relationship with Dr Madeleine Swann, Q wants nothing to do with him.Then there's an accident in Q-Branch...





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've spent another year having so much fun in the 00Q fandom and I thought it was about time I mended the end of SPECTRE.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has commented, kudossed (is that a word?) and generally encouraged me this year. Happy holidays. x

 

 

Six months.

The thing with Madeleine lasted a paltry six months.

If James was honest, it was over after three but he hung on in there, unwilling to admit that they’d made a mistake.  Unwilling to admit that he wasn’t what she’d needed.  He’d wanted a lover and a soulmate but she’d wanted a father-figure, a replacement for what she’d lost. He tried, God knows he tried, to be what she wanted but in the end all it had taken was an international incident and a begging phone call from M and he was on the next flight back to London…

Things were different when he got back to MI6.  They were in the new building for one, the one paid for by Blofeld’s attempts to take over.  M was still in command but he had made waves in the government following the attempted global coup.  He had more power thanks to the MPs who now supported him and he wasn’t afraid to wield it.  Once again, MI6 was a force to be reckoned with

Moneypenny and Tanner had got engaged to each other.  James tried to tell himself that he was surprised but he couldn’t.  They made a great team, something they realised as they’d fought against C’s attempts to ruin MI6.  They made a much better team than he and Madeleine ever had.

Q had changed.  His branch was now in the underground rabbit warren beneath the new MI6 building and the nature of his work had changed too.  It was R and her team who now primarily liaised with the agents in the field while Q was more focussed on the general running of his department.  He was micromanaging the research and development side of things too, the aspect of the job he’d always loved.  Moneypenny had quietly taken James to one side and told him that the change had come about after Q had collapsed at his post, halfway through directing 003 through a fire-fight.  After being taken to medical he found himself on the receiving end of the mother of all reprimands from M.  It transpired Q had been burning the candle at both ends; not eating or sleeping properly as he determinedly took back control of the aspects of their surveillance system that had been infiltrated by Blofeld.

James missed dealing with Q on a personal level.  He’d always admired his tenacity and intellect.  He’d been someone James could rely on.  A confident in many ways.  Someone who was willing to bend the rules for the greater good.  He might have called him a friend except men like James didn’t get to have friends.  Friendship was dangerous.  That was all water under the bridge now though.  Q didn’t really talk to him anymore.  He’d seen him a couple of times since he’d got back but he seemed to avoid James, only speaking to him when he absolutely had to, his manner cold and professional.  James couldn’t say that he blamed him.  James had been one of MI6’s top agents but had tried to throw it all away over a woman almost young enough to be his daughter.  Q had been staunchly loyal to MI6.  Was still loyal.  No wonder he’d felt slighted by James’s actions. 

It made James feel a little sad to have lost Q’s trust and he wondered if he’d ever manage to regain it.

 

~00Q~

 

Visiting Q branch felt odd now.  Although James still disliked dropping off his kit and the rigmarole of giving feedback on it, the chance to see Q was a strangely alluring thing.   As he sat in the main workshop listening to R drone on about his gun’s performance he zoned out a little.  He’d been there for half an hour, arriving just in time to catch a tantalising glimpse of the quartermaster as he disappeared into one of the testing labs with an assistant. He’d looked good.  Healthy and relaxed.  James felt his now customary pang of regret at having caused him to feel betrayed.   

He wondered what Q was doing in the lab.  It must be something important to warrant him and his technicians working on Christmas Eve afternoon.  The department usually wound down a couple of days before the Christmas and ran on a skeleton staff until after the holiday season.  He wondered if he should try again to talk to him before he disappeared for his Christmas break.  James used to bring him back little gifts in lieu of any destroyed equipment.  Perhaps he could start doing that again in the New Year?  A tin of the aromatic tea he loved that he bought for him in Finland?  He couldn’t remember the name of it but he remembered that the tin it came in was yellow.  He was sure that with a quick web search he could find out…

“Bond?  Are you still with me?”

He blinked and looked back to R, realising he’d been wool-gathering.

“My apologies.  I was miles away.”

“So I could see.  As I was saying, if I could get you back in here after the Christmas break we can try out the latest Walther redesign that Q’s been working on and see…”

Suddenly there was the wail of a siren and the door to the testing lab that Q had entered slammed open. One of the technicians ran out.  He took a shallow ragged breath and choked out three words before collapsing down onto his knees, coughing harshly.

“Everyone… get out.”

R immediately stood to leave but Bond grabbed her arm.

“What was Q working on?”

“I don’t know.  Some new sort of lachrymatory agent I think.”

“Shit.” 

Lachrymatory agent.  More commonly known as tear gas.  James was immediately up and running, ignoring R’s shout of protest.  There was an emergency hazmat station halfway down the main room they were in and he headed straight for it.  Grabbing two respirators he put one of them on and then ran towards the lab, turning on the small oxygen canister that was attached to it.  He was almost at the door when it opened again and two more technicians staggered out.  One was dragging the other and they would have looked like drunken Saturday night revellers were it not for their streaming eyes and hacking coughs.

“Q!”  James shouted.  “Where’s Q?”

The women supporting her colleague waved behind her weakly towards the room and he ran in.  The room was small and filled with a blueish miasma but he immediately saw Q, choking and trying to crawl towards a large canister that was lying on the floor and fizzing violently, a thick blue cloud belching out of it.  James strode over and activated the second respirator before removing Q’s glasses and placing it over his face.  Putting the glasses in his pocket he quickly went to the canister and tried to shut it off.  After a second he realised that the valve was faulty and abandoned it.   Picking Q up bridal-style, he carried him out of the door.  By the time he got to the middle of the main room R was there waiting for him, an emergency wash kit in her hands.  He sat Q down on the floor and pulled off both their masks.  Immediately Bond’s eyes and lungs started to prickle but he ignored it, concentrating instead on Q.

He looked terrible.  His eyes were streaming and swollen shut.  The skin on his face and neck was bright red and he was whooping, trying to breathe.  James patted him down.  His didn’t find what he was looking for.

“You need to get to his workshop, quick as you can.” He told R. “He’s asthmatic.  Go and find one of his blue inhalers.”  R seemed to hesitate.  “ _Go!”_

She nodded and scrambled onto her feet.  As she left Q abruptly lurched over and vomited.

“There you go.”  James said matter-of-factly as he pulled Q back up into a seated position.  “Better out than in.”  He grabbed the wash bottle out of the kit.  “Tilt your head back.”

Q did as he was told and shivered as James squeezed the bottle, sluicing his face.  Supporting his head James put down the bottle so he could push his wet fringe back off his face.  He repeated his actions, drenching him again.

“OK.  You’re covered in this shit.”  James could see the fine pale blue dust was clinging to Q’s clothes.  “I’m going to strip you.”  Still supporting the back of Q’s head he made short work of undoing his tie and the top buttons of his shirt while Q shakily unbuttoned his cuffs.  Once he was able James grabbed the hem of his shirt and jumper and pulled them off in one motion.  Tossing the clothes away from them he scanned Q’s white thermal vest.  There was no obvious sign of the contaminant on it so he left it on him for the time being.  The room they were in was cold and James didn’t want to freeze Q unnecessarily.  His trousers were caked in it though so he reached down and quickly undid them.  Patting his hip, Q obediently lifted his bum off the floor and allowed James to pull them off him.  He threw them after the rest of his clothes.  Q drew his knees up to his chest and began to shudder, still coughing and fighting to breath properly. 

James quickly scanned the room and noticed a discarded lab coat over the back of a chair.  He got up and grabbed it and when he turned back he tried not to notice how small and vulnerable Q looked.  The young man was trembling violently now looking utterly naked in his distress, despite his quaintly old-fashioned underwear.  James went back to him and Q startled as he wrapped the lab coat around him.

“It’s OK.  I’ve got you.” He soothed, rubbing his back.  “Let me try to wash some more of this stuff off your face.”  He held Q’s head and squirted the solution over his face again.  He then used the cuff of the lab coat to gently pat his face dry.  “Can you try to open your eyes for me?”

Still wheezing badly Q cracked open his eyes and James winced in sympathy.  His eyes looked bright red and sore.  Just then there was a commotion and several staff from Medical barrelled in, each carrying kit bags.  They were led by Doctor Conroy.  She made a beeline for them and James could see she had an electronic tablet in her hand.

“Quartermaster.  What’s the nature of the contamination?”  Q tried to answer but coughed violently.  James rubbed his back for him again.  “Take your time.”

“RX-751.”  He finally croaked. 

Conroy tapped the digits into her tablet.  She quickly scanned the document it brought up and then called out loudly to her staff who had split up to home in on the various prone members of Q’s team.

“Standard treatments for tear gas exposure please.”

She donned a pair of gloves and then picked up the wash bottle to examine the label.

“I see Bond has beaten me to it here.  Good.  How are you feeling?”

Q shook his head and parted his knees to drop his head and dry-heave again.  His breathing sounded terrible.  He was still whooping for breath and then painfully struggling to breathe out.

“Asth…ma…”  He croaked out. “Need… ‘haler.”

Just then R returned and James as relieved to see that she had a blue salbutamol inhaler in her hand.  He reached for it and looked to Conroy.

“Can he…?”

She nodded and he placed the device in Q’s hand.  He gave it a quick shake and put it in his mouth.  He took a deep breath as he deployed it.  Conroy and James waited as he seemed to freeze before slowly exhaling. 

“Well done.”  The doctor said.  “Give it a moment and then do that a few more times.  You’ll need to up your inhalers over the next week or so.  Double the dose until you feel comfortable again.”  She got up and rooted through her bag.  Pulling out a lightweight blanket she knelt down beside them again and shook it out over Q’s bare legs.  Tucking it around him she waited for him to take another pull on his inhaler.  “In a couple of minutes I’ll want the both of you in the decon showers.  You need to get the residual traces of this stuff off the both of you.  Do you have a change of clothes here?”

Q nodded.

“…’think so.  Locker.” He said, his voice still strained.  Conroy looked to James and he nodded.  It was standard procedure for employees to keep changes of clothes in their lockers.  Staff never knew when they might be expected to pull long shifts.  Or be exposed to contaminants it would seem.  “Good.  Give my assistant your keys and locker numbers.  He’ll collect your clothing while you shower.  Yours too Bond.”  James retrieved Q’s trousers and they both handed over their keys.  James and Conroy then helped Q to his feet.  He staggered slightly and she reached out to cup the sides of his face.  “Alright Tom?”  She asked quietly.  He nodded and James watched their little exchange with interest.  He’d never heard anyone call Q by his first name at work before.  He and the doctor must be better friends than he’d realised.

Dropping the blanket and pulling the lab coat around himself Q walked tiredly out of the room.  Conroy turned to James.

“You need to take you clothes off too Bond.”

He waggled an eyebrow at her and winked.  She sighed in exasperation.

“You’re contaminated!”  The doctor exclaimed.  “I need to make sure this stuff doesn’t spread any further.  Honestly, everything’s a double entendre with you, isn’t it?”  He quickly took off his shoes and socks before stripping off his suit, tie and shirt.  He grinned when he saw the way she was watching his naked chest.  He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his underpants and made as if he was going to pull them down in the middle of the busy room.  “For the love of God KEEP YOUR UNDERPANTS ON!”  He cracked up laughing and she shook her head, smiling now and blushing.  “Bloody double-ohs.  Get your arse in the shower.” 

He paused to hand Conroy Q’s glasses and then wandered through to the decon showers and saw that Q was already in one of the open stalls, standing under the cascading water, his inhaler on the ledge in front of him.  James stripped off his underpants and stepped into the one next to him.  Q ignored him, continuing to absently scrub at his chest.  Picking up the nearest bar of soap James quickly washed himself down.  He didn’t suppose he had much of the contamination on himself but it paid to be cautious where chemicals were concerned. 

He watched Q out of the corner of his eye.  The most undressed he’d ever seen the man was one summer when he’d popped into the department on his day off dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.  Never like this though.  Never naked.  He was as slim as James had always imagined.  His long neck seemed even longer with the absence of clothes.  He was slightly broader across the shoulders than James would have expected but his waist and buttocks were petite.  James tried not to stare at the gap between his slim thighs.  Q stretched his arms up to wash his hair and James swore inwardly as he felt his cock try to thicken.  Savagely twisting the temperature dial on his own shower he fought not to shiver as a torrent of freezing water blasted him.

Q glanced over as some of the cold water splashed his flank.  He immediately looked away again when he saw James watching him, his cheeks flushing. James turned off his shower and grabbed a towel, wrapping it securely around his waist.  He then picked up his soap and walked up to Q.

“Here.” He said, alerting Q to his proximity.  “Let me.”  Q jumped when James started to run the soap over the back of his neck. “I can still see a little of that blue stuff on you.”  Q nodded and stood stock still, his hands on the ledge as James washed around his shoulders.  Once he was thoroughly lathered up James set the soap down beside him and rinsed off his hands.  “There.  Make sure you wash it off properly.”  Q nodded again and put his head back under the water as James left him to it. 

Wandering back through into the changing room he found Conroy and one of her staff waiting for him.  He stood patiently and allowed her to quickly check him over.  Once she was happy he went over to where he could see his spare suit hanging.  There was a pile of his things on the bench in front of it.  He dropped his towel and rooted through it.  There was a t-shirt but no underpants.  Oh well.  He took his trousers down off the hanger and put them on.  As he slipped on his t-shirt he noticed how small the pile of Q’s clothing was.  Quickly checking he saw that it consisted of just a pair of his awful checked trousers and some black jockey shorts.  Without hesitation he took his own button down shirt and put it on the top of the pile.  A moment later Q came in, wrapped in a towel as James had been. 

Conroy handed him his newly-cleaned glasses and he put them on before she placed her stethoscope on his chest.  She listened intently to a couple of spots before turning him and listening through his back.  She then sat him down and slipped a blood-pressure cuff onto his arm.

“How are you feeling now Quartermaster?”

“Fine.”

She harrumphed and removed the cuff.

“I’m sure.  Good.  No danger of you flaking out on the way home then.”

“Oh no.” Q replied.  “I need to get back to my department and organise a clean-up crew to…”

“ _If_ I might remind you,” Conroy cut across him, “all decontamination of areas deemed to be under hazmat conditions automatically come under the remit of the medical department.  That means me.  Furthermore, all members of staff who are on file as suffering from any kind of respiratory or circulatory disorders such as, say, asthma, are automatically denied access to those areas until they have been deemed fully decontaminated.  That means you.”

Q scowled at her.

“I have a right to see to it that my department is made safe again.”

She crossed her arms and straightened her back. 

“I hope you’re not implying that you don’t think me and my staff are up to the task.”

Her words were softly spoken but James instantly picked up that the doctor was getting pissed off with him.  Q did too it seemed as he immediately backed down.

“Sorry.  No.  Of course not.”

“Good.  Then happily you have the next three days off.  Happy Christmas.”

“Perhaps I could be allowed to go back to my office just to…”

She cut him off again, this time by speaking directly to James.

“Bond!  Have you anywhere else to be today?”

“No Doctor.”

“Excellent.  Escort your Quartermaster home please.  Do not leave until he is in his bed and, preferably, asleep.  Despite his reassurances that he feels ‘fine’ I would like him to rest.” 

“It would be my pleasure.”

“And that means no sneaking any work home with you Tom.”

Q nodded and then shuffled over to the small pile of clothes looking annoyed.  He picked up the shirt.  James donned his suit jacket and then slipped his feet into the flip flops medical had provided for him as Q examined it. 

“This isn’t mine.”

“It’s mine.”  James said.  “You really should start ensuring you have a complete change of clothes in your locker in future Q.” 

Q seemed to hesitate and then ducked his head down, avoiding eye contact with James.

“I will.  Thank you.”

He slipped on the shirt which was way too large for him.  His pants and trousers followed and then a pair of the awful flip flops.  He took a blast on his inhaler and held his breath before letting it out slowly.  Conroy had a point, James thought.  Q looked dreadfully tired now. His bed was probably the best place for him.

“Come on then.  Let’s go.”

 

~00Q~

 

Q was silent almost all the way home.  Other than giving James instructions on how to reach his home in Richmond he didn’t say a word, choosing to gaze out of the window rather than talk.  James wondered if he was still feeling unwell following his earlier asthma attack.  When they got to the small cottage where he lived James parked up and followed Q in through the front door.

“You can go now.”  Q said, going straight into the kitchen to put on the kettle.

“I think not.”  James commented.  Q threw a scowl over his shoulder at him before taking a mug down out of the cupboard and putting a teabag in it.  “Conroy wants me to stay until you’re tucked up safe and snug in your bed.”

“I’m not a fucking child James!”  Q suddenly shouted.  He slammed the cupboard door shut again.  “Why can’t you just fuck off and leave me alone?”

James was taken aback.  He’d never seen Q so angry before.  He opened his mouth to snap back at him but then James recognised the expression on his face and realised he’d made a mistake. 

Q wasn’t angry.

He was hurt.

“Aren’t I allowed to look out for my quartermaster?” He asked quietly.

Q shook his head.

“No.  Not any more you’re not.”

He walked past him, his tea forgotten.  As he reached the door James spoke again.

“Might I ask why?”

Q sighed and dropped his head.

“James, if you have to ask that question, you don’t deserve the answer.”

He turned and went up the stairs.

James stood speechless, left alone in the little kitchen.  What the hell just happened?  Had he really misread the situation between them so badly?  He’d thought Q had been disappointed in him. Angry even.  Not… _this_.  Not upset.

The kettle beside him rumbled to a boil and then clicked off, prompting him into action.  He would make Q’s tea for him and then take it to him.  See if he would be willing talk to James and tell him what the matter was.  He took a mug out of the cupboard for himself and found some instant coffee.  He then poured the boiled water into the mugs and went to the fridge for some milk.  He sighed when he looked into it.  There was nothing but a couple of wizened-looking mushrooms and a bottle of champagne.  No milk.  He remembered seeing a small supermarket at the end of the road so he grabbed Q’s keys from where he’d dropped them on the counter-top and went shopping. 

Being Christmas Eve the shelves were sparse and the aisles crowded with last-minute shoppers but James managed to get the milk he wanted along with a few other bits and pieces.  Some cheese and crackers, bacon, bread and butter.  Assorted nibbles and chocolates.  Some honey and lemon for Q’s tea.  Q had been coughing his guts up (quite literally) earlier so James imagined his throat would be sore.   He was back within ten minutes and quickly re-boiled the kettle before starting afresh on their drinks.  Once they were made he put all his purchases away.  When he opened the fridge again he picked up the bottle of champagne and turned it over in his hand.  Dom Perignon.  The same variety as James had bought him as a joke that time he ‘borrowed’ 009’s car.  He wondered if this was the same bottle.

Picking up the mugs he climbed the narrow stairs.  There was only two doors on the landing at the top of them.  One stood ajar and James saw it led to the bathroom.  He quietly knocked on the other and pushed it open.

Q was sprawled face down on the bed, already fast asleep.  He had taken off his trousers and was just dressed in his black undershorts and James’s shirt.  One hand was above his head and the other was tucked in, the backs of his fingers curled up against his lips.  One of his legs was pulled up and James couldn’t help but admire the smooth curve of his arse.  Unwilling to disturb him, James set Q’s tea down on his bedside table next to his glasses.  There was a small ornament beside them.  James picked up the little globe and shook it.  Inside a miniature Eiffel Tower was subjected to a sparkling snow storm.  He remembered this.  He’d brought it back off one of his missions in lieu of his lost gun as a joke.  Q had kept it on his desk for the longest time. 

Q snuffled in his sleep and shifted.  James wondered if he could get him under the duvet he was lying on but then noticed there was a blanket folded over the chair under the window.  He took it and laid it over him.  It was beginning to get dark so he drew the curtains and left quietly.  Back downstairs he sipped his cup of coffee and then wandered through to the lounge.  If he couldn’t get Q to tell him what was wrong maybe James could figure it out.

Half of the room he found himself in looked more like a workshop than a regular front room.  There was an old desk piled high with circuitry and half-built projects.  In amongst it all there was an oil tin that had been cut down to hold pens and pencils and small off-cuts of wire.  Attached to the front of it was a fridge magnet.  A badly painted resin scene of Venice complete with a gondola stuck on a spring.  It was another one of James’s gifts.  On the wall was the postcard he sent from Rio after getting laid up in the hospital there for a week. On one of the bookshelves there was the coconut carved to look like a monkey he brought back from Bali.  By the computer tower on the floor there was a miniature straw donkey in a sombrero from Spain.  They were everywhere he looked, every single light-hearted knick-knack he’d ever given to Q. 

When James came back after Madeleine he’d thought Q had got rid of them all.  The first time he’d been in Q’s office at MI6 after his return he’d felt a pang of disappointment that all the signs of their fledgling friendship had disappeared.  A realisation crept over James as he looked at them all now, his stomach sinking and his cheeks flushing.  Q had kept every single silly little gift he’d ever bought him.  He’d held onto the bottle of champagne rather than drink it alone.  He’d avoided him on his return.  Q hadn’t been mad at James for leaving MI6 at all.  He’d been upset at James for leaving _him_.

He thought back to that last day, James’s arrogance at going back to take the car that Q had worked so hard to rebuild for him.  How many hours, how many late nights and weekends, had Q devoted to it?  _Just one more thing_.  The look on Q’s face as he’d said those words.  James had thought the flicker of pain in Q’s eyes had been his disappointment at seeing him go.  But what if he’d thought for a fleeting moment that James was coming back for _him_?  James must have broken his fucking heart.  His eyes kept getting drawn to the cheerful little fridge magnet.  The reminder of James’s affection for his quartermaster.

“I’m such a fool.”  James whispered, “How could I have been so blind?”

He sat down on the sofa that faced the inert television and sipped at his coffee as he considered his question.  He’d been blind because he never would have believed it.  There was an innocence about Q, despite the job he did.  James couldn’t have guessed that someone as pure as Q would ever have wanted someone like him.  Could he?  Surely Q hadn’t wanted someone so broken and tainted by what he did for a living. He shook his head, unable to believe what he’d done.  How unwittingly callous he’d been.  He’d planned to leave after he’d finished his coffee but now he knew he couldn’t.  He had to stay to speak to Q. 

 

~00Q~

 

It had been dusk when they’d arrived at Q’s cottage.  It was almost ten o’clock that night when Q stumbled back downstairs.  His hair was tousled and the side of his face was pink from where he’d been sleeping on his belly.  He was still dressed in just his shorts and James’s shirt.  The top three buttons had come undone and it hung wide off one shoulder.  James looked with affection as Q absently scratched his head and yawned, stumbling into view.  His sleepy demeanour was shocked out of him when he saw James was sitting waiting for him.  He watched as a cascade of emotions warred on his quartermaster’s face.   Surprise, embarrassment and was that fear?  Nervousness?  James stood up.

“We need to talk.”

Q seemed to slump as he leaned on the doorframe.

“No we don’t.”  He said sadly.  “I’m sorry that I shouted.  I was tired.  Pissed off.  I take great pride in controlling my asthma.  Having an episode like I did today…” He paused and looked down.  “I shouldn’t have been such an arse after you were good enough to bring me home.  I’m so sorry.”

James walked over to him and placed a hand on his waist.  With the other he tilted Q’s head back up with a gentle finger under his chin.

“That’s my line.” James said.  Q stared up at him, his pupil’s blowing wide.  “I’m sorry too.  I didn’t realise… I never knew.”

“Knew what?” Q asked, his voice hoarse.

“The way you that felt about me.  I never thought… I never would have believed...”

“What…” Q’s voice caught.  “What do you mean?”

“You thought I was coming back for you, didn’t you?  The day I left.” Q eyes widened and he went to move but James stilled him with the lightest of pressure on his hip. “I was so arrogant.  So blind.  After everything you’d done for me I was still so wrapped up in myself I couldn’t see the truth.”

“And what truth was that James?” Q asked.

“That someone like you could want someone like me.”

Q blushed then.

“Someone like me?”

“Intelligent.  Funny.  Sexy.  Sweet.  Unblemished.  Young.”

“I’m not that young James.”  His lips twitched, almost smiling as he shyly rested his hand over James’s.  His fingers were warm.

“You are compared to this old battleship.”

Q laughed then.  A gentle, exhale of mirth.  James leaned forward to kiss him but Q pulled away slightly, turning his head so that James’s cheek ended up resting on his.

“Please don’t.” Q’s words were soft.

“Why not?”

“Because if you kiss me it would break my heart for sure if you left again.”

“I wouldn’t.”  James breathed.  “I won’t.”

Q moved his head, almost brushing his nose up the side of James’s cheek but not quite touching.

“You can’t promise me that.”

“I can’t promise you that my job won’t take me away from you.  That my next mission won’t be my last… but I can promise that I won’t walk away.  I’ll never walk away from you again.”

He closed the distance between them then, brushing a soft kiss across Q’s lips.  Q didn’t kiss James back but he moved again, nuzzling him.

“Can you?  Can you really promise me that?”

James nodded, brushing their faces together before kissing him again.  This time Q responded with the lightest of kisses.  James claimed it before tucking his head into the side of Q’s neck and drawing him into an embrace.  For a moment Q hesitated but then his hands found James’s sides and he ran them up and over his back, returning the hug.

James lost track of time as they stood in their embrace.  Q felt so warm, so solid despite his slight frame.  He was everything that James had ever wanted but never dared to desire.  He closed his eyes and buried his face into Q’s hair, breathing in the smell of the cheap soap he’d used at MI6 and the faintest hint of sweat from sleeping in the warm little house.  James cupped the back of his head and felt him tremble as he kissed the side of Q’s throat.  His hand wormed its way under his own shirt to touch Q’s skin.  His fingers smoothed over the definition of his ribs, feeling his heart beat.

Q pulled away, smiling coyly.  Slipping his hand into James’s he slowly led him upstairs.  Once back inside his bedroom he turned and they resumed their embrace.  James ran his hand into the mess of Q’s curls as he held him close.  He could feel the way he was trembling and he wondered if this was all too much for him.  If he should suggest they just fall asleep together.  Before he could speak though Q pulled away and slipped off his underpants.  He unbuttoned the rest of the shirt as he crawled onto the bed and laid back, leaving it on.  He hesitated for a moment and then smiled, parting his legs just slightly to allow James to admire him.  James drank in the sight of him as he hurried to remove his own clothing.

He’d been with men before but only in the line of work, never purely for pleasure.  Looking at Q he couldn’t imagine a single reason why he wouldn’t have.  When dressed, there were occasions that James might have thought Q almost feminine but not now, not seeing him reclining back on his elbows, mostly naked.  His chest was almost hairless but for a smudge over his sternum.  A trail of dark hair began beneath his navel and thickened until it almost swamped his fat, full cock and tight balls.  His legs were hairy and although he was thin all over it was a natural slimness not the body of someone who spent time in the gym sculpting themselves.  He was soft and rounded but no, there was nothing feminine about him at all.

Once James was naked he crawled onto the bed.  He knelt beside Q and placed his hand on his hip, running his fingers into the edge of his coarse pubes.  Q’s breath hitched.

“I’ve never done this before.”  James admitted.

“Fucked a man?  I thought… in the field.” Q said, suddenly uncertain.

“I’ve fucked.” James said quietly.  “I’ve been fucked but…”  He trailed off, unsure what he was trying to say.  He was unwilling to tell Q about the hard and fast shags that he’d been forced into for the sake of his missions. The times he’d ended up in bed with men.  The times he’d been hurt.  He struggled to find the right words until Q suggested;

“You’ve never made love to a man.”  James nodded.  Suddenly unable to meet Q’s gaze.  He felt almost ashamed to have never experienced it before.  Q sat up then and took James’s face in his hands, kissing him slow and long.  When they finally broke it off he murmured, “You won’t hurt me.”

Q reached over and pulled open the little bedside drawer. He extracted a bottle of lube and a strip of condoms.  James felt a frisson of jealousy to think that Q had such things so close by.  That he’d had other men in his room.  In his bed.  Q tossed them onto the bed and then relaxed, wrapping his arms around James’s neck and pulling him down until he half-covered him, their legs scissoring.  Despite his momentary doubts James was getting hard now and he bucked, rubbing his erection over Q’s hip as they kissed again.  Q met James’s mouth with enthusiasm, parting his lips to allow his tongue access.   He moaned when James’s fingers found one of his nipples.  He let him toy with it for a moment before grabbing his wrist and guiding his hand to his mouth.  James nodded and ran his finger over Q’s bottom lip.

Q grinned and then licked James’s finger before sucking it into his mouth.  His cheeks hollowed lasciviously before he slowly drew off it, his lips pursing.  _Dear God_. That was it.  James could imagine then how it would feel to have Q blow him.  The warmth and wetness.  The suction.  The soft glide of his tongue.  James pulled out his finger and leaned over to kiss him again.  Moving his hand down his body he swallowed Q’s gasp of pleasure as he slipped his finger inside him.  Q was tight but he soon relaxed into James’s gentle stroking.  James looked down and admired the view.  James’s own shirt framing Q’s naked body.  The undulation of his belly as he rocked onto James’s hand.  The spread of his legs and the jut of his hard cock standing erect in its bed of wild curls.  James flexed his hand, enjoying the feeling of Q’s cool soft scrotum, the most delicate part of him, as it moved against his wrist.

James lost track of how long they stayed there, kissing as Q allowed James to finger him open.  Q seemed to realise that James needed this.  This gentle exploration of Q’s body.  This wasn’t like anything he’d ever done before.  First times tended to be frantic affairs for James.  Madeleine on the train and before that Vesper at the clinic.  He shivered, appalled at himself for thinking of them while in Q’s bed.

He dropped his head and licked across one of Q’s nipples.  He was so warm there was a sheen across his chest, the hint of salty sweat.  Q sighed and spread his legs wider.  Removing his finger James grabbed the lube before replacing it with two.  Q bucked and laughed.

“Fuck!  That feels so good.”

James grinned and curled his fingers, sitting up to watch the way Q writhed at the extra stimulation.  He ran his free hand down over his chest.

“Fucking hell Q.”

Q drew his arms up over his head and turned his face to the side, burying the side of his face into his own bicep.  He began to pant.

“T…Tom.” He ground out.

James leaned over and kissed the long stretch of his neck again.

“Fucking hell _Tom_.” He whispered.

Q shuddered and reached down to grab James’s wrist.

“Ooh, stop.  Please stop.  You’re going to make me come.”

James chuckled and slowed his moving fingers down until they were barely twitching.

“You’re right darling.  I am.”

After a final kiss James knelt up and slowly slid out his fingers.  He grabbed one of the condoms and tore the packet open with his teeth before rolling it on.  He lubed himself up and then got himself into position.  Easing Q’s buttocks up onto his thighs he nestled the head of his cock against Q’s entrance.  As he pushed forward Q arched up, turning his head to press his lips to the cuff of James’s shirt as he was breached.  He shivered and cried out as James lodged the head of his cock just past the first tight ring of muscle.

“Okay?” James asked, leaning over him to push his curls back off his forehead.

“Oh God.”  Q panted.  “So good.  It’s been so long… you feel so big.  So good though.”

James smiled and kissed him softly.

“Tell me if I go too fast.”

He began to twitch his hips, gaining entry into Q’s body by increments.  Q responded beautifully, spreading his legs wide.  James placed his hands on his slim thighs, easing his legs open yet further.  James watched as his cock penetrated Q, his teasing nudges rubbing the head of his cock over his prostate repeatedly.  After a while he withdrew and spread more lube over his cock before pushing it into him again.  He wanted this to be good for him.  It needed to be good.  Q didn’t deserve anything less.

He curled in on him then and used the leverage to push in another inch.  Q inhaled, the cuff of the shirt still pressed to his face, and James realised he was smelling the aroma of the shirt.  It sent jolt of desire through James’s body.  Q’s simple act of arousal through smelling James.  James had always found the aroma of his partner’s body particularly arousing and he wondered what else they had in common.  He suddenly felt the urge to wallow in Q‘s scent.  He pushed Q’s other arm up and licked across his pectoral, up into his armpit.  Instead of shying away tickled Q shuddered and looped his hand around the back of James’s head, pressing James’s face in harder.  James licked again, running his tongue through the sparse hair that he found there.  He smelt musky, the slightest hint of warm sweat and soap and it was intoxicating.  Q moaned again as James suddenly bottomed out, engulfed in Q’s body up to his balls.  He slid his other hand up under Q’s back as he tucked his face into the crook of his neck and pulled out before rocking back into him.  Q whimpered this time and arched, turning his head to lick up the side of James’s neck.  He clung to him like a drowning sailor to a life raft as James began to make love to him in earnest.

James held him tightly and buried his face into the pillow beneath Q’s head as he rocked his hips. He moved the hand under Q’s buttocks and he reached down until he could feel the shaft of his own cock and along the rim of Q's stretched arsehole.  Q whimpered as he felt James’s questing fingers.   A part of James wanted to let go and just fuck into him but a larger part wanted to slow right down.  To make it last as long as possible.  To memorise every part of Q.  James was almost scared that this was too perfect.  That it would be a one-off.  It couldn’t be though, could it?  Surely Q would want to again?

Pushing up onto his elbows he looked down at Q.  He seemed almost out of it, zoned out, a slight frown wrinkling his forehead as he was rocked.  James kissed him softly as he slowed down his thrusts.  Q seemed to come back out of his headspace, looking up at James and smiling at him.  He reached up to stroke his temple and the simple act of tenderness was James’s undoing.  He closed his eyes as his orgasm suddenly swelled and overtook him.

When his shivers and pulses finally abated he pulled out and pulled off the condom.  He tied it off and tossed it onto the floor.  Q looked fucked out, watching James with lazy eyes.  His legs were still spread and his cock was still hard.  James immediately dropped down and cradled it, licking up him from his balls to the tip before taking it in his mouth.  Q moaned breathlessly and bucked as James slipped the two fingers inside him again.  He stroked into him, concentrating on massaging his prostate and pressing his thumb onto his taint, all the time suckling on him softly.  Q’s legs trembled as James closed his eyes, savouring the smell and taste of him.

There was a blast of an aerosol and James looked up in surprise as he saw Q remove his inhaler from his mouth.  He held his breath for a moment and then spoke;

“If you stop what you’re doing right now, I swear I will _end_ you.”

James chuckled and ducked down onto his cock again, taking it easily into his throat before gripping its base with his free hand and pulling off.

“I wouldn’t dream of it Quartermaster.” He whispered, breathing across the tip.  He took him in again and kept eye-contact with Q as he carried on deep throating him.  It only lasted another couple of minutes before Q cried out softly and came, bucking and flooding James’s mouth.

James swallowed everything and then licked Q clean before crawling back up the bed.  He tucked him back into his arms and they kissed again, slow, lazy and sated.

“Will you stay?”  Q eventually asked.

“I told you I would.”  James said solemnly.  “I’ll never leave you again.”

Q yawned extravagantly.

“I meant for tonight you berk.  Will you stay with me tonight?  Stay for tomorrow?  I don’t have a turkey dinner to offer you I’m afraid but I’m sure I can rustle us up some beans on toast.”

“I could make some phone calls,” James offered, “I could probably get us into a five star hotel for Christmas dinner with all the trimmings if you’d like.”

Q smiled and kissed him again before settling back into the crook of James’s arm contentedly.

“No thank you.  I’m pretty sure I have everything I need for a happy Christmas right here.”

James smiled back.

“Me too darling.  Me too.”

~fin~

 

 

                                                  

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, if you'd like to join me, I'm still doing my thing over at iambid.tumblr.com. Flailing over cute kitties, hot actors and men who, in all likelihood, are displaying a bit more flesh than their mothers would approve of.


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